Great holiday season. Part 2.

The second gift from my gal is a book I can't stop talking about, Beautiful Book of Monsters Part 1. Its a amazing collection of 614 photos of a man's Bullmark and Marusan collection. It showcases toys from both the Ultraman series and Godzilla films. The book is a softcover with a dust jacket and 178 pages of unreal pictures. I can't recommend this book enough, if you are a vintage toy collector or just want a great coffee table book.. Pick this up!!

Click on the images to see just a few pages from the book.

Great holiday season. Part 1.

Hope everyone had a great holiday. I just wanted to share some of the great items I got this season. First up is the M1 GMK Godzilla I received from my girl. It's the Flesh Green Ver. I have seen this one online before, but the spray in person is really great. Click on the photos for some nice close-ups.

A Girlfriend's Rant

Sometimes, in the pursuit of the perfect present, you need to go to the experts. For Christmas this year, the quest for the Bullmarks was beginning to be a little overwhelming so I decided to ask Jonathan for some help. I scoured eBay for at what felt like days before texting him SOS and admitting I needed advice. The one thing I found was a vintage Red King bullmark that looked to be in great condition aside from a small (not even noticeable!!) crack in the armpit. Thinking that maybe I'd stumbled across something great, I mentioned it to him with fingers crossed. Unfortunately it seemed that Red King was not high on Jordan's list, and the crack in the vinyl would be a big problem. Sigh. I move on, no bids and the thing gets sold.....

....

....

TO JORDAN!!

Come on! Unfair. Christmas is not ruined.

Ok, you'll have to wait to see what else Jordan is getting instead, but still. Thanks Jonathan.

Jonathan's Bullmark scores

My buddy Jonathan just picked up some nice Bullmarks, I was at his place the other day and snapped some pictures.

GMK Baragon

He's back!! After a long absence from Godzilla films, Baragon returned in the 2001 movie Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

Released by Bandai, Baragon was for some reason the rarest figure in the movie collection and is about double the price of any of the others. Baragon also had a movie theater exclusive version cast in a semi-clear orange. He stands close to 6" in hight and 7" in length. This is one of my favorite Bandai sculpts.

The joys of a blind box figure

I'm not really into the whole blind box figure collecting anymore, but sometimes you find a awesome little gem like this.

Baltan Seijin playing an Ultraman slot machine!

Bandai Museum Gigan

As you can tell I have a thing for the Bandai Museum collection. This series of figures was produced by X-Plus for the Bandai Museum store in Japan. A total of 9 figures were produced by X-plus, and the rest were not so great repaints of older Bandai sculpts. It become quite a challenge to collect the entire series due to the fact that they were only sold in the Bandai Museum store, and the store closed it's doors soon after the series release. The Gigan is a extremely accurate representation of the monster. Standing close to 10" tall with articulation at the arms, legs, and tail he really shows off what X-Plus can do. Gigan was also one of two figures released in this collection that came boxed and not in a bag with a header card. The only other boxed figure was Baragon whom I will be posting about soon.

Jonathan's GLOW shelf

My buddy Jonathan has started a really nice collection of GLOW figures.

Check out the pics. (This is an update from the post from my phone)*

Where I store my change

Got this great little Gamera bank in NYC in the mid 90's in China Town. Stands about 5 inches in hight and has a twist off cap on the bottom to get your life savings out.

Always liked this cute guy, stood guard on my desk for years. A few years later I saw one that looked the same but was 2 or 3 times in size !

A buddy of mine scored one on Ebay not long ago still in the box.

Bullmark King Ghidorah

Another Bullmark has arrived! Got this the other day from a auction win from Japan. This Bullmark King Ghidorah was released in the early 70's and stands around 9 inches tall.

This is a very common Bullmark to find, but come on.. its King Ghidorah!!

Thanks Cosmo Knight Alpha

Down a strange little street in the town of Ekoda Japan I finally found what I was looking for at Cosmo Knight Alpha. Before I left for Japan I made myself a small list of what to keep an eye open for while toy hunting in the mind-blowing stores around Tokyo. One item was a good condition SpaceGodzilla. I know you can find a standard size SpaceGodzilla on Ebay, but they always have very bad paint wear on them. I have seen them at conventions also, and again they always seem to be trashed or don't have the tag attached. Finally it took a trip far overseas to find the one I wanted. Stuffed in a case behind a shipment of boxes, in one of the worlds smallest stores was my SpaceGodzilla . The owner was a great guy and knocked a few yen off the price too. Can't wait to go back someday.

The very happy guy in the pic is the owner of Cosmo Knight Alpha*

Here comes Bandai Battra Larva 1992

Along with the movie Godzilla vs. Mothra 92 Bandai released five figures for the movie. One of the figures was Battra Larva, the enemy of Godzilla and Mothra in the film. He is close to 5" tall and 8" long with bright paint over a dark body color. Also attached is a tag featuring the movie poster. Not many Battra items have ever been made which really makes him stands out for collectors. He is a enemy that really stands out in the Godzilla saga.

I also found out a great way to take pictures in my apt. Click on the image and check it out*

My stuff up for trade

I posted some items I have up for trade on my Flickr page. If you see anything you like shoot me a email Geekabilly@aol.com

Hit the link to check out the items.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordan_leitner/sets/72157622028708455/

Marmit reissue of Bullmark Gyango

This is the Marmit Standard size reissue of the Bullmark Gyango from the first Ultraman series.
Has super bright paint and really stands out on a shelf. Marmit used the original Bullmark molds to make this in the early 90's. Bandai also used Bullmark molds at this time to reissue monsters from the Godzilla movies. Great score from Ebay.

This is a test.

I am testing to see how blogging from my phone shows up on my blog.. This is only a test. Beeeep










- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Its here! My GB Green ver.

This is it, the last Gorilla Biscuits figure Super7 will make from this mold. This is the new green ver cast in solid green to look like the little army men of our youth. This color was done because CIV (singer of GB) wanted it to look like one of his favorite toys. This ver is packaged not in a bag with header card, but in a wood box with a slip off lid (to look like a army footlocker) with a paper strap wrapping around. The paper stap has art work and info on the band. Thanks to Cliff again for getting me the hookup at this years Comic Con to snag this item for my collection.

Icons of Sci-Fi Toho Collection DVD

Last week was the release of Icons of Sci-fi TOHO COLLECTION DVD. This is a set of 3 classic TOHO films, The H-Man, Battle in Outer Space, and Mothra. All 3 films come with both the Japanese and US versions. They all are presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with subtitles. The films look great due to a remaster job done on all, but the case and disks are not up to par. The cover looks like a quick Photoshop job and the disks have no art at all and just have plain black font on silver disks. And another thing about the disks, they are all stacked on 1 peg in the case. It's well worth getting the films for around $22. (Bestbuy), just don't stare too long at the piss poor packaging.

Another Bullmark for me, Black King

Well told you Vintage Bullmark was going to get me hooked. Here is my second Bullmark, Black King from Ultraman Jack released in 1971. Like most standard size Bullmark figures, this on stands close to 10" tall and has a standard paint scheme. This figure for its standard paint really stands out, it's almost day glow in color. Hope to have more vintage figure postings soon.

My first Bullmark, Metron

I finally went for it and picked up my first Bullmark figure, Metron Seijin from UltraSeven released in 1971. He stands close to 10" in height and has a Hawaii paint scheme. Most Bullmark figures had multiple paint jobs and some had what they call Hawaii paint variations. These variations were released in Hawaii and had brighter paint jobs than the other paint jobs done for the figure. I really can see the charm in collecting vintage figures and I'm sure this is going to get me hooked.

Mogera

Released in 1994 with Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla this standard size figure stands tall. With a symmetrical stance he resembles the vintage Star wars figures of the 70's and 80's.

Bandai released 4 standard sized figures for this film including SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla, & Little Godzilla, who I have already reviewed. Standing close to 8" with a folded tag this figure made the list of things to score during my trip to Tokyo Japan. Its was finally found towards the end of the trip with tag intact for a very low price. Thanks Japan*

Erik reviews the 1/12 scale Nostromo astronaut w/facehugger

Those who know me know that I am an avid Alien movie buff. And although the series has had its ups and downs (Resurrection, I'm looking at you), I have always appreciated the design that has gone into every aspect of every film. That is why I chose this piece to be the first shared. There have been a lot of great sci-fi movies with a lot of great spacesuits. From the shiny disco suit worn in the original "Day the Earth Stood Still". to the gear worn by the assassins in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country", I am a sucker for a good outfit. My favorite, however, has always been the suits from the original Alien movie. They were just perfect. So when I found out about a toy release coming in May 2006, I started counting the days.

That's what makes this toy from Japanese model company Aoshima so spectacular. It captures the look flawlessly. Considering this is an 8" figure, the level of detail could not be higher. I think the pictures speak for themselves. You can still find this toy online, and don't let the words "Model Kit" fool you. Snapping the pre-painted arms and legs onto a pre-painted torso hardly constitutes a model. Also look for Aoshima's other snap together figures in this line. The "Big Chap" from the first movie, and the "Alien Warrior" from the second movie. There is also a variant on this toy without the facehugger, but this one definitely wins in my book.

Click images for larger views*

Finally picked up the TOYPUNKS DVD

The DVD is a nice look into the start of the collector toys of Japan and its creators. It has great info and an insight into what it takes to make it and what drives them to make the products they pour heart into.

I would recommend watching it for any modern toy collecting fan.

My only problem with the DVD was the sound at some parts gets a bit low and hard to hear.

Here is the preview to the DVD:

This Kane wont demand Nuke

In the summer of 1987 I went to a movie where I went in a boy and came out a man. That voice changing, ball dropping movie was Robocop. The movie just blew me away with its style, tounge in cheek campiness, and over the top violence. Then in 1989 Robocop 2 hit the theaters, it was not as great as the first film but a very good sequel. The one thing that I took away from the 2nd movie was Kane, the bad guy turned cyborg. His design burned a place in my brain that turned into hours of drawing him during math class. Then one day to my joy in 2006 a line of blind box Robocop figures was released and guess who was in the assortment? KANE!! He is about 3" tall and has a unreal sculpt. I know this little guy only runs about $5 but he is one of my favorite items. Below I posted the Robocop Vs Kane battle from Robocop 2.

Big Man Japan released on DVD today

I had no clue today was the DVD release! I have to get this today. (where is the Blu-Ray?)

My name is Legion, for we are many.

Legion is a monster, or rather colony of monsters, from the movie Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. This figure was released by Bandai in 1996, and is 7" in hight about a foot long and came tagged. He is a bit small in scale with the Gamera that was released along with it. Only 2 figures were released with the film, not counting the theatre exclusive Plasma Gamera that I have already reviewed. This item really stands out in a collection due to its strange look and larger size, also have said before that Gamera 2 is one of my favorite kaiju movies it was a must have for me.

I got this one from Ebay a few years ago, they are common to find online

but prices fluctuate a lot.